Stosur soars, Kvitova crashes

Samantha Stosur grinded her way into the last 16 at Roland Garros by pipping Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-7 (0), 7-5 on Friday, while Petra Kvitová plummeted out of the tournament as she lost to Shelby Rogers 0-6, 7-6 (3), 0-6.

Safarova could not come to grips with the high-kicking serve of Stosur, who fired down seven aces and was only broken once throughout the match.

Stosur wasted three break-points in the fourth game of the opening set before finally converting one in the eighth game to earn a 5-3 lead. She served-out the set at the first time of asking.

The players then traded breaks in the second stanza before Safarova leveled matters by winning the tie-break to love.

In the decider Stosur then broke in the second game only for Safarova to break back to leave the match in the balance at 4-4. Having won her service game to lead 6-5, Stosur then claimed the match by breaking Safarova for the fourth time on the day.